Oral nutritional supplements

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, more older people are likely to be undernourished or malnourished because of social isolation, anxiety, and practical issues such as difficulty with  shopping. This is important because malnutrition and undernutrition are linked to the development of frailty, which in turn is associated with declining health and the increased risk of falls. Oral nutritional supplements are prescribed to try to address problems with nutrition in older people and this prescribing has increased markedly in our ageing population. NICE guidance CG32 ‘Nutritional Support for Adults’ is to provide “oral or artificial nutritional support where clinically indicated” in care settings. Various efforts have been made to reduce and control prescribing, and care homes in particular have been a target for some years. Oral nutritional supplements is one of the targets in the new RPS/RCGP Repeat Prescribing Toolkit and it is likely that more attention will be paid to their use, so community pharmacy teams will see more activity in this area.